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"Go Army Beat Navy" with Darnell Woolfolk · Cover IV Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to Cover Four.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: If you're a Section 4 football fan, this is your podcast.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Coach Smith, and I'll be your host.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: The Cover Four Podcast is brought to you by TDS Performance Improvement.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: Leading people is the most important responsibility in the world.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yet 60% of first-time leaders fail, and only 5% of organizations have a leader development strategy.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: I developed the premier first-time leader development program to prevent these failures.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: Beginning in January 2023, I will deliver this monthly leader development program at the Tyoga Downs Casino, Nichols, New York.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: Visit TDSPI.com.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: That's TDSPI.com and click to find out if you're prepared to lead people.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: Our guest is Darnell Wolfhook.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: Darnell is a Section 4 football alumni and graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: Darnell is currently a first lieutenant in the United States Army.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: Darnell is going to explain when and why he decided to attend West Point.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: Then he's going to take us through this special week, which culminates Saturday with America's game, the Army Navy game.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: He will walk us through a day in the life of a West Point cadet, and then finally Darnell will finish by sharing his life after West Point.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome, Darnell.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_00: Hi, Coach Smith.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: How are you doing?
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_00: Good.
• 1:35
  SPEAKER_01: Listen, first things first, thank you for your service.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_01: It's my pleasure.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I haven't done a ton, but you know, I'm I'm happy to do it.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we all appreciate that.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: Here's another phrase for you.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: Go army, beat navy.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_01: Beat them.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_01: Love it.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: You hear that a few times?
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: Almost every time around this time of the year.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, and and whenever we were at West Point when my daughter was there, it anytime you heard somebody speak or address a group or something, they always ended their talk with go army, beat navy.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_01: So it likes to drain that.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_01: Still a thing.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_01: Very oh yeah.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: And I saw one of the buildings there on the top of one of the buildings, I down close to the water there.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: There was a right on it's right on top of the roof.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: Go Army beat navy.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_01: That's uh the one of the athletic complexes that we have.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_00: And later on in our conversation, we'll get into that a little bit more, what that means to you and uh whatnot.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: But I want to start off, Darnell.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: When and why did you decide to attend the number one leader development academy in the world, the United States Military Academy at West Point?
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_01: So that's there's a lot that goes into that.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, one, I really, really wanted to play Division I football.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and I was looking for any way to do that.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, didn't really think I was gonna have success with that.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_01: So I was looking at Ithaca College um and I wanted to do something um in criminal justice.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_01: So um I knew I wanted to serve in some sort of capacity.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_01: And then comes along Coach Luce, um, who was recruiting me, I think at Lafayette.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_01: And he said, Darnell, you know what?
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_01: You would be the perfect fit to play fullback for West Point because it's the triple option, which you played in high school.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and so I went on my visit, um, absolutely loved it.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um, one of the biggest things was the first thing that I said to my parents was that this place looks a heck of a lot like Hogwarts.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_01: Like what?
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_01: Like Hogwarts from Harry Potter with the castles and everything everywhere, right?
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_01: So then ultimately a big part of it was that um, you know, I would be able to serve in a bigger capacity.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_01: Like I said, I wanted to do criminal justice, you know.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_01: I thought this was the bigger and better way to do that.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so those are really my two deciding factors was that I knew that I wanted to serve in some sort of capacity, and I wanted to play Division I football, and that was my opportunity to do both.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_01: Nice, nice.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: Now, this is a special week, especially at the United States Military Academy and and the other place.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: The Army Navy game is this weekend, and they call it America's Game, and that's this Saturday.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: And we talked a little bit in the uh beginning about the phrase go army beat navy, and that you must have heard that you know thousands of times, but you actually got to change that phrase the last three years that you played against I'll say it, Navy.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: Instead of saying go army beat navy, you got to say army beat navy.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: You dropped the go.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: And that's that's that's really special.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: So uh take us through uh when you were a cadet and when you played in those those particular games, the Army Navy games, what that was like, what it meant to you, and the and what the week leading up to that was like.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so there's so many festives that go into Army Navy week.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you got the engineering goat game.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, sometimes they do the burning boat um that says sink them on it.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and we burn like a cardboard or wooden boat, um, you know, a bunch of act uh like active um athletic sports that go on um leading up to it, like boxing, army versus navy, rugby, like almost all the sports um that are in season during that fall season usually play leading up to that.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um so it's super fun to watch all that as well.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um and then, you know, going into it, um specifically that sophomore year, that first year that we broke um Navy's winning streak uh was super, super special.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_01: Um one, obviously, because it's America's game.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um it means so much to a lot of people that you don't even realize.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_01: So that's that's one of the biggest things um that you recognize um being a part of that game is that it impacts so many people, so many people um around the world because people stationed or deployed are watching that game.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_01: So that's that's part of the reason why it's it's such a big deal.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and you really feel that impact um just because everybody's reaching out to you.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, best of luck, thank you for your service.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, we can't wait to see what you do on the field and in the future.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it's just it's a lot to take in.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and you kind of feel like um the weight of the world is on top of you because everybody expects great things from you.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but specifically that sophomore year was super special, breaking that streak, and we also won because we lost one of our teammates that year.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so it was just all around amazing.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and walking out in that tunnel every year, Army Navy, um, it gives you the chills.
• 7:35
  SPEAKER_01: There's nothing like it.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um the crowd is going crazy.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it's just the ultimate adrenaline rush.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_01: Like there's there's nothing that compares to it.
• 7:47
  SPEAKER_01: Honestly, I've never had any other aspect of my life compared to those moments in that tunnel walking out before Army Navy.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then even after the game, so much emotion that sophomore year, there was people running down to the field because we broke the streak.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_01: Um, a lot of old grads, NCOs, officers on the field crying, like, I can't believe you guys have done it.
• 8:11
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it's just super, super special.
• 8:13
  SPEAKER_01: And it's just there's so much around that game that that means a lot.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and you're playing for not only yourself, but everybody that serves.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_01: So that's why it's so awesome.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: You know what?
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: I I can remember what I did when you guys broke that streak.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: I was watching the game, I was watching it by myself here, and wherever my daughter was, I don't know where she was, but I call her on the phone right after the game and I said, Army beat navy, and then I hung up.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: I just and I just I just hung the phone up.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's really funny.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, and then the one of the biggest things, and I want you to I'm gonna I'm gonna lead you into this, but explain to me why singing second means so much after that game.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I mean, so the the point of singing second means that you won.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_01: So, number one, winning that game um and winning the commander-in-chiefs trophy that year was amazing.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, you get to be with the crowd.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um, the people that have supported you all year long, um, and just knowing that you came out on top, both teams left their heart out on the field, um, and knowing that you were the better team that day um feels amazing.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_01: Um, obviously, um, like I said, supporting those who supported us throughout the year, um being able to connect with them, um, singing together, um, knowing that, you know, especially sending off the seniors on a right note, um, and knowing that they're gonna be uh fighting along all those people that were playing that game for.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: And what what it means is the and that we'll use that sophomore season, for example.
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_00: You beat Navy, so Navy will go over it and and they sing their alma mater.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yep.
• 10:09
  SPEAKER_00: And then you get to go sing your alma mater second, which you like you alluded to, means that you won the game.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: So it just even means more.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_00: And I I still get I'm getting chills now talking to you about this, kind of like reliving these things because when my daughter was there at as a cadet, my wife and I can remember set through four Army Navy games freezing, and we lost them all.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so it's rough.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we didn't get to experience that, but I'm glad that you you guys and and the the team that you were with broke that streak and and went on a pretty good little streak of your own.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, it's it's definitely fun.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_01: Glad that I was a part of it, um, and glad that I was able to do it with a bunch of outstanding people as well.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and the thing is during the the heat of the battle, the the game, it's not really a battle, it's a friendly strife is the way it's it's talked about.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_00: But you you're really both sides obviously want to win, and you you're doing your best there, but once the dust settles and and the game is over with, you guys are all for the same cause, United States, right?
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: Supporting the Constitution.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: So it's kind of it's also unique in that regard, too, that it's not like two teams that that play and just walk away from each other, you know.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: You obviously want to beat each other, but when it when uh really comes down to it, you guys are there for each other, and that's that's uh just another uh thing you throw on top of in terms of such an emotional game.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, um, that's that's a big part of it.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I know that um especially um once you get out into the actual uh military and the army in the navy, um, you oftentimes do run into those people, um, knowing that you know we're all fighting for the same cause.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: I just want to share with our listeners a little bit of your uh uh numbers and accolades that you received while you were there uh playing for the United States Military Academy at West Point.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: You're tied for third in program history with 37 touchdowns, 14 of them came in your final season, and you're ninth all-time in rushing with uh 2,368 yards.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_00: And I want to qualify that.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_00: These yards came from the fullback position, predominantly, probably most of them are between the guards, maybe uh between the guard and the tackle sometimes, but those are a lot of rough yards.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you were selected to the 2018 East-West Shrine game, and you're also an undrafted free agent uh in the New York Giants camp for a while.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_00: So not only did you play there, you competed at a very high level, like you wanted to do, and you were obviously very good at that.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: And so thank you for that as well.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I want to personally thank you for breaking the streak, too.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um, also, I want you to take us off season, but take us through a uh typical day of a cadet at West Point uh in your off season.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_01: So for us in our off season, um, you know, we have to be out at formation by 06, um, so 6 a.m.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um right after that formation, you go to breakfast, um, which is about 30 minutes.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and it changes from year to year.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_01: Like sometimes they'll make it so that it's a buffet um and you can just go through line, um, sit down if you want, or grab and go.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um, or you sit down and they'll serve you everything.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so it changes year by year.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so it's usually 30 minutes to an hour, and then you're in class until around 11:30, then you have lunch, then you have more class.
• 14:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then in the off season, I usually finished around uh three, and then I'd go up to the stadium and I am there until about nine o'clock at night, um, because we'll usually get dinner up there.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_01: And then it's as a freshman, you're doing duties, um, which that includes taking out everybody's trash, taking everybody's laundry, cleaning, sweeping, mopping, um, all the fun stuff.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then you're studying and right back at it the next morning.
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_01: Um, as an upperclassman, um, you have more leisure, but um, usually that time is spent studying lots and lots of writing, uh, lots of papers as well.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so it's it's pretty constant.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um, you're always on the go.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_01: So time management is a huge aspect of West Point, which I think is a huge benefit.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_00: Uh you can compact a lot of activity in a short period of time.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_00: And it's it's amazing.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_00: And there really isn't a lot of lull uh in the day.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_00: And that's obviously the way that they set it up.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_00: They want to keep you active, keep you going.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_00: And what was amazing to me is the the place, the the the they call it the post, is always clean.
• 15:21
  SPEAKER_00: And when we were up there, we always would see cadets jogging, uh, you know, because you have really the the three-pronged GPA, uh, which a lot of people don't understand.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you go to a traditional four-year uh college, I mean, your GPA is your your grades, you know, how you do, but you know, at West Point, you've got your traditional studies, your military studies, and then your physical fitness.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: That's your three-pronged GPA.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_00: So you really got to be on uh good uh analogy here, on point at West Point.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_00: I just coined that.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but um that really sums it up.
• 16:02
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you can you can't slack off on any one of those of your GPA is gonna suffer.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, that's that's very true.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_00: Now, now that you've graduated, you've been out in the away from the academy for a while, take us through a little bit of your life after West Point, up to what you're doing now and what you're looking to uh do in the future.
• 16:24
  SPEAKER_01: So, right after West Point, I had the awesome, awesome opportunity um to coach at the prep school at West Point.
• 16:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I coached the running backs um for about seven months, took them through a season.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then I went to Bollock, which is the basic officer leadership course for field artillery um at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.
• 16:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um, took that on.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I think I was 16th in my class.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, somehow, not not the brightest, but you know, when you when you're good at time management um and you really focus on on what you're trying to achieve, um anything is possible.
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_01: So um was able to finish that.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_01: And then my first duty station was Fort Carson, Colorado, um, where I was uh at first an assistant um S3, which is basically operations.
• 17:22
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then I took uh a fire direction officer um position with a battery, um, and that's basically telling the guns where to shoot.
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um lots of math involved.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_01: Um and then right after that, also at Fort Carson, I was a platoon leader.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and that's basically managing um and maneuvering about 50 people, um, the year platoon of people um to get them to their firing point, make sure that the guns are laid properly so that they can fire as accurate as possible.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and then after that, I'm currently stationed at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, um, at Tradock, where um basically it's basic combat training for initial entry trainees.
• 18:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so it's basically my job now is to assist um the transition from civilian um to soldier.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_01: So it's it's a it's a unique opportunity.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_01: Um and it's where you know I like to focus myself on.
• 18:30
  SPEAKER_01: I'm always looking to help people um better themselves in any way that I can.
• 18:37
  SPEAKER_01: Always did that, took priority in doing that for my soldiers when I was at Fort Carson.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and now I can do it on a larger scale, um, just because we have about 250 trainees every 10 weeks.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_01: So um trying to push a lot of people into the military um and make sure that they're set up for success to strive um and do their best throughout their military career.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_00: If more people would do what you do, Darnell, not necessarily in the military, but just do that in life, trying to help and make people better, we would be in a totally different world than we're in now.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_01: And uh I definitely agree.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_01: Um, it's one thing that I I definitely pride myself in, and I I really do feel um fulfillment in that.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_01: Um, odd enough.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I I feel I feel what you're saying just because um I feel like it's not there's not enough people out there that really take that to heart.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so I I definitely do take pride in it and uh I feel really fulfilled doing it.
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you you definitely uh you know walk the walk.
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_00: Some people they call it ear candy, uh, may say it, but not actually do it or back it up.
• 19:55
  SPEAKER_00: And uh that goes a long way.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_00: That talks in depth about your in shows about your character.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_00: How was it being called Coach Wolfhook with the the uh prep school running backs?
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I loved it, it was so much fun.
• 20:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um, just you know, seeing seeing guys come from all different walks of life come together um to achieve one goal um and work together um side by side as a team and not that long of a time because you know everybody gets there late summer and then we go right into fall season.
• 20:31
  SPEAKER_01: So um it's a quick turnaround and how fast you know people can come together and and uh do great things is is awesome to witness and be a part of, honestly.
• 20:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you alluded to the multiple walks of life that people come in there, but one thing they do when um they try to get cadets to come to the to West Point is geographically across the United States and also across outside of our borders, they they try to get as many um cadets as they can from different areas.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_00: So you you know, you have your your graduating class is typically around like anywhere from 1100 to a a thousand, someplace in that in that range.
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_00: And they're typically from all 50 states.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you know, there's a spattering of people from different countries, um, different backgrounds, things like that.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_00: So it's really kind of neat.
• 21:25
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and we I'd like we used to like to go up to the uh the the the uh the plane where they that's where they uh march on at the uh at West Point there.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_00: And it's kind of neat to watch that and all the the thing, and then the march on at the Army Navy game, uh, which you never did because you're you're playing, but um that is really very impressive to to watch that.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_00: And and you talk about being choreographed.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_00: I mean that is the ultimate.
• 21:55
  SPEAKER_00: And if somebody somebody messes up, like say uh somebody from Navy, uh they walk on and march on, I should say, and they and they mess up, don't you think that some cadets are are gonna let them know about it.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's funny how that goes, but uh that's good stuff.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_00: Well, listen, uh Darnell, thank you for taking the time uh to share you know your background, and uh this is actually great uh information for anybody that's considering uh the military, specifically the United States Military Academy at West Point, and what you know that stands for as well.
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so we really appreciate that.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_00: And that's my pleasure.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yep, thank you.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_00: And in two days, uh, I'm gonna be yelling, go Army beat navy.
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_00: And then at the end of that, hopefully I'll be saying Army beat navy.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, sir, yes, sir, beat them.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_00: All right, and you'll probably get a text.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_01: Good.
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_01: I'm I'm looking forward to that text.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_00: Uh you take care and thanks again, Darnell.
• 22:56
  SPEAKER_00: Appreciate it.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_01: All right, thanks, Coach.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_01: You take care.
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we'll see ya.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_00: If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe.
• 23:04
  SPEAKER_00: And remember, tell your friends, Coach Smith says visit cover4.com and be the next fan up.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_00: In football and life, it's not where we line up, it's where we wind up.
• 23:18
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for listening to the Cover Four podcast.